Natural Language Processing in the Context of Cancer: A Systematic Review
Bruna Alice Oliveira de Brito, Itamir de Morais Barroca Filho, Jean Mário Moreira de Lima, André Morais Gurgel, Ramon Santos Malaquias · 2024
In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) has enabled continuous advances in medicine, playing a crucial role in the evolution of cancer research. One of the AI techniques widely used in this context is Natural Language Processing (NLP) due to its ability to extract information from unstructured documents such as clinical notes and progress reports. These notes can contain valuable data about the type of cancer and information that can be essential for improving the quality of patient treatment, providing data for research, and offering meaningful figures for health service managers, among other uses. This study aims to present a systematic literature review to investigate and synthesize technological advances in applying NLP in medicine, particularly in cancer diagnosis. It identifies gaps, challenges, and potential strategies to accelerate the diagnosis and treatment of cancer disease using AI.